Nacaduba for ID

[Commander]

Seow, your views on these two? First one is a N. kurava? 2nd one is very small, about the size of Z. maha.

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[Commander]

Four more. All shot at the same urban park over the period 2006 - 2008.

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[Psyche]

Post 1.

1. is a fairly typical N. kurava male. termen fairly straight.
Large submarginal spots (may be band-like with) rounded inner margins; HW submarginal spot 6 large.

2. a fine male typical N. calauria. Dark striae well-developed.
FW postdiscal band straight; submarginal spots dark .bulky, spots 4 & 5 sharply ponted.
Note the HW submarginal spots 4 & 5 are likewise pointed.

Post 2. All are variants of N. kurava.
Note the male N. kurava also have the dark striae less developed but not as much as in the beroe male.

N. beroe male . Dark striae in FW postdiscal band very poor & may be obsolete.
FW lower submargnal spots slab-like, rectangular ; wingbases typically darkened.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xhPzgiOQMi4/UinuSB0-gLI/AAAAAAAAL2o/nEWnJwJKuy8/s1600/HFH_7263-Pointed-Line-Blue.jpg

TL Seow :Cheers.

[Commander]

One more of these pesky Nacadubas. :)

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[Psyche]

Another male kurava..

A good clue to kurava & beroe males is the dark striae are not strongly black & contrasted as in berenice/calauria.
Also the FW termen is straighter.

This wont work for the females, all species have well-developed dark striae.

TL Seow :Cheers.

[Commander]

This one's a M symethus right?
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[Psyche]

Post 6.

Female M. symethus.
Apical areas of FW & HW with whitish shadings; FW postdiscal spots poorly contrasted , obscure.

TL Seow:Cheers.

[Commander]

These two are valid N beroe neon?.

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[Commander]

This spot being pyramidal or squarish don't make any difference as a diagnostic feature?

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[Commander]

Based on the tips for ID, this one looks more like a N. beroe to me now. :)

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[Commander]

And a Miletus symethus this time?

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[Psyche]

Post 8.
You got it right.
In the past there were a lot of difficulties trying to correlate with what the key states.
In pix 1 the dark striae in the FW postdiscal band is rather poor & in pix 2 disintergrating.
Wingbase darkened in pix 1 but not obvious in pix 2.
The shape of the lower 3 FW submarginal spots is a useful guide.
The submarginals are wider in pix 1.
FW termen fairly straight.

Post 9.

Both are N. kurava.
If HW submarginal spot 6 is large quadrate or rectangular it almost alway is kurava.
However, variations occur, but I have not seen beroe in which this spot is square.

In kurava the postdiscal band always seems to be fairly straight & unbroken.
In beroe the band always seem to be broken/dislocated in the middle.
This may also be a useful guide.

Post 10.

Yes. this one is N. beroe.
In the past I have great difficulty, wondering what this is, berenice or beroe.
As you can see the dark striae in berenice are very dark & constant, the submarginals are shaped differently & the termen is more rounded.
http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist/mugshots/Nacaduba%20berenice%20icena/Rounded%206%20Line%20Blue%20-%20Neo%20Chee%20Beng.jpg

TL Seow: Cheers.

[Psyche]

Post 11.

Yes another female M. symethus.

TL Seow:Cheers.

[Commander]

Thanks, Seow. Very enlightening. A good series of diagnostic features to give a higher level of confidence to ID these guys. Looks like N. kurava is even more common than N. beroe and N. berenice​ from my collection of shots since 2004.

[Psyche]

There are still a lot of puzzling pix.

eg. Are all below N. calauria?
http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist/mugshots/Nacaduba%20berenice%20icena/154%20Nacaduba%20berenice%20icena%20(Rounded%206-Line%20Blue)%20Bobby%20Mun.jpg
http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist/mugshots/Nacaduba%20calauria%20malayica/Nacaduba-calauria-malayica-(Female)-...-Sunny-Chir.jpg
http://s22.photobucket.com/user/digimania/media/nacuduba.jpg.html
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/federickho/media/Lornie%20Trail/Pointedline-blue.jpg.html

TL Seow :Cheers.

[Commander]

Based on your point about the straightness and unbroken forewing post-discal band, then none of the examples below qualify for ​N. calauria.


There are still a lot of puzzling pix.

eg. Are all below N. calauria?
http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist/mugshots/Nacaduba%20berenice%20icena/154%20Nacaduba%20berenice%20icena%20(Rounded%206-Line%20Blue)%20Bobby%20Mun.jpg
http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist/mugshots/Nacaduba%20calauria%20malayica/Nacaduba-calauria-malayica-(Female)-...-Sunny-Chir.jpg
http://s22.photobucket.com/user/digimania/media/nacuduba.jpg.html
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/federickho/media/Lornie%20Trail/Pointedline-blue.jpg.html

TL Seow :Cheers.

[Psyche]

Based on your point about the straightness and unbroken forewing post-discal band, then none of the examples below qualify for ​N. calauria.

That would only be for the typical form.
Forms from elsewhere shows the band may be slightly dislocated ,presumably so would examples here.
However, I have worked out what they should be.

1. is a variant male N. beenice with large dark spots similar to C&P4 plate 37/41.

2 & 3 are N. berenice females.
Horace had bred a large numbers which I realised are all N. berenice. The size of the spots varies widely.
These two fit in well.

4. best treated as a variant N. berenice male.
The termen is straight & the spots largesh. Probably a cross with kurava.

Here are the females.

N. berenice as above. very variable spots may be very narrow to rather broad.

N. calauria.
http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1271/4611202469_65181a03d4.jpg

N. kurava FW spots with rounded margin ;HW spot 6 oval is also seen. Note FW band intact.
https://wanderingbutterflyeffect.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/6a0100a801ee89000e00fad6b787da0005.jpg

Together.
http://s13.photobucket.com/user/SunnyChir/media/ID%20keys/Nacaduba-calauria-malayica-amp-Nacaduba-kurava-nemana_zps3285e245.png.html

N. beroe. somewhat like kurava; note FW band partially dislocated.
http://s35.photobucket.com/user/Schir/media/Bin/Sunny-Chir---EOS-1D-Mark-III--13_08_2011--0143-copy-4.jpg.html
http://www.nss.org.sg/butterflies_list/show_photo.php?img_id=553

TL Seow : CHeers.

[Commander]

Slightly off-topic. Here's a Rapala. Another R. dieneces?.

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[Psyche]

Post 18.

This looks good for a R. suffusa male.
FW dak band is more strongly bent to the costa.
A strong tawny flush to the HW; may be strongly chrome yellow.
Examples males.
http://s255.photobucket.com/user/log1t3ch/media/DSC_9045a.jpg.html
https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7376/9857490685_e0452d3eda_b.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-KIPhHY0XrSM/Uhix5ckztYI/AAAAAAAALxs/AGjPT5BdySQ/s1600/HFH7114+Scarlet+Flash+(Rapala+dieneces+dieneces).j pg

R. dieneces. male.
FW band normally straight , but may be bent to a lesser extent.
Various brown shade without yellow or tawny yellow shade .
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ca3djKvy5NY/T6ew2H0RtvI/AAAAAAAAFzU/RCwL9W3TwKY/s640/DSC0136+Scarlet+Flash.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Nq8JtCdenzg/T6ex5MpgMGI/AAAAAAAAFzk/7O9lOYPyrcg/s1600/DSC0150+Scarlet+Flash.jpg
http://media.photobucket.com/user/sting-rey/media/Butterflies/SuffusedFlash.jpg.html?filters[term]=suffused%20flash%20(rapala%20suffusa)&filters[primary]=images&filters[secondary]=videos&sort=1&o=6
http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist/mugshots/Rapala%20dieneces%20dieneces/Scarlet-Flash---Khew.jpg

TL Seow:Cheers.